Baby scales of the type under discussion are used in actual practice and exist in various versions. Prior baby scales have, for example, a housing with a weighing tray installed on the housing to hold a baby, whereby the weighing scales are installed on a measuring device for determining the weight of the baby. Moreover, the baby scales have a display to show the determined weight of the baby. Baby scales of the above-mentioned type are used in the private realm and also as calibrated baby scales for weighing babies in hospitals, in pediatric clinics, in doctor's offices and by midwives. The prior-art baby scales are able to reliably determine the weight of the baby who is to be weighed.
However, when it comes to baby care, it is not only important to determine the weight but also the length of the baby. In particular, taking into account a combination of the weight value with the corresponding length measurement, conclusions can be drawn about the developmental and nutritional state of the baby. For this purpose, after the babies have been weighed, they are measured with a separate measuring stick or measuring tape in a usually impractical procedure. Especially in hospitals and doctor's offices, where a large number of babies have to be taken care of at almost the same time, there is a risk that the measuring tape or measuring stick is not at hand right away or has even been misplaced. This considerably impairs the convenient care of the babies.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,457 describes a device for measuring the length and the weight of babies, which includes not only scales but also a length measuring device. Disadvantageously, with this type of device, no simultaneous and sufficiently accurate measurements of length and weight are possible.
Baby scales are also used whose weighing surface has a measuring tape glued onto it. These scales especially have the drawback that the measuring tape is hard to read when the baby is lying on it or next to it. Moreover, these scales have the disadvantage that the measured values cannot be further processed or stored in electronic form.